Acoustic Features of Oral Reading Prosody and the Relation With Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension in Taiwanese Children

Author(s):  
Wei-Lun Chung ◽  
Gavin M. Bidelman

Purpose: The study aimed to examine whether oral reading prosody—the use of acoustic features (e.g., pitch and duration variations) when reading passages aloud—predicts reading fluency and comprehension abilities. Method: We measured vocabulary, syntax, word reading, reading fluency (including rate and accuracy), reading comprehension (in Grades 3 and 4), and oral reading prosody in Taiwanese third-grade children ( N  = 109). In the oral reading prosody task, children were asked to read aloud a passage designed for third graders and then to answer forced-choice questions. Their oral reading prosody was measured through acoustic analyses including the number of pause intrusions, intersentential pause duration, phrase-final comma pause duration, child–adult pitch match, and sentence-final pitch change. Results: Analyses of variance revealed that children's number of pause intrusions differed as a function of word reading. After controlling for age, vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, and word reading, we found that different dimensions of oral reading prosody contributed to reading rate. In contrast, the number of pause intrusions, phrase-final comma pause duration, and child–adult pitch match predicted reading accuracy and comprehension. Conclusions: Oral reading prosody plays an important role in children's reading fluency and reading comprehension in tone languages like Mandarin. Specifically, children need to read texts prosodically as evidenced by fewer pause intrusions, shorter phrase-final comma pause duration, and closer child–adult pitch match, which are early predictive makers of reading fluency and comprehension.

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. O'Shea ◽  
Paul T. Sindelar ◽  
Dorothy J. O'Shea

The failure of some researchers to find improved reading comprehension with increased fluency may result from the assumption that readers automatically shift attention to comprehension when fluency is established. Research on cuing readers to a purpose in reading suggests that a simple cue about comprehension may be sufficient to prompt this attentional shift. In this study, the effects of repeated readings and attentional cues on measures of reading fluency and comprehension were examined. Thirty third graders read separate passages one, three, and seven times following cues to attend to either reading rate or meaning. After the final reading of each passage, the students retold as much of the story as they could. Fluency and proportion of story propositions retold were analyzed in repeated measures analyses of variance. Significant main effects for both repeated readings and attentional cues were obtained on both dependent measures. Thus, both fluency and comprehension increased as the number of repeated readings increased. In addition, readers cued to fluency read faster but comprehended less than those cued to comprehension. These results suggest that increasing fluency is a less efficient means of improving comprehension than presenting cues about comprehension.


2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan H. Clemens ◽  
Eric Oslund ◽  
Oi-man Kwok ◽  
Melissa Fogarty ◽  
Deborah Simmons ◽  
...  

This study utilized secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial and investigated the extent to which prestest word identification efficiency, reading fluency, and vocabulary knowledge moderated the effects of an intervention on reading comprehension outcomes for struggling readers in sixth through eighth grades. Given that the experimental intervention included components that targeted word reading, reading fluency, and vocabulary, we hypothesized that students with lower pretest performance in those skill domains would benefit more from the intervention compared to students with relatively stronger pretest performance or students who received school-implemented (business-as-usual) intervention. Results indicated that pretest word identification efficiency and vocabulary did not moderate the effects of the intervention; however, moderation effects were observed for pretest oral reading fluency such that reading comprehension gains of students with lower pretest fluency were greater in the experimental intervention compared to students with higher pretest fluency or in the comparison condition. Reasons for the moderation effect are discussed. Findings underscore the use of moderation analyses when evaluating multicomponent interventions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 138-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor A. Koriakin ◽  
Alan S. Kaufman

Although word reading has traditionally been viewed as a foundational skill for development of reading fluency and comprehension, some children demonstrate “specific” reading comprehension problems, in the context of intact word reading. The purpose of this study was to identify specific patterns of errors associated with reading profiles—basic reading difficulties (BRD), reading fluency difficulties (RFD), reading comprehension difficulties (RCD), and typical readers (total n = 821). Results indicated significant differences between the groups on most error factors. Post hoc analyses indicated there were no significant differences between the RFD and RCD groups, but these groups demonstrated different patterns of significant weakness relative to typical readers. The RFD group was weaker in spelling and oral expression whereas the RCD group demonstrated difficulties in writing mechanics and listening comprehension. These findings indicate that comprehension deficits cannot be attributed only to fluency difficulties and that specific reading difficulties may translate to other aspects of achievement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 333
Author(s):  
Amalia Novita Retaminingrum ◽  
Sri Tiatri ◽  
Soemiarti Patmonodewo

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menguji peran kelancaran membaca awal terhadap pemahaman bacaan. Partisipan adalah 150 siswa kelas empat. Partisipan diberi satu set asesmen yang mencakup beberapa komponen kelancaran membaca awal dan pengukuran atas pemahaman bacaan  fiksi dan non fiksi. Kelancaran membaca awal diukur dengan Early Grade Reading Assessment yang mengukur letter name identification, segmentation (phoneme or syllables), non word reading, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary, dan dictation.  Pemahaman bacaan fiksi dan non fiksi diukur melalui tes yang dikembangkan berdasarkan Curriculum Based Assessment dari Kurikulum 2013 Indonesia. Analisis regresi dilakukan pada penelitian ini, dan hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada dua komponen kelancaran membaca awal yang berhubungan dengan pemahaman bacaan. The goal of this study was to examine the role of early reading fluency in reading comprehension. Participants were 150 fourth-grade children. They were given an assessment that included multiple components of early reading fluency, and a fiction and non fiction text to measure their reading comprehension. For early reading fluency, this study used Early Grade Reading Assessment which measures of letter name identification, segmentation (phoneme or syllables), non word reading, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary, and dictation. For fiction and non-fiction reading comprehension, this study use Curriculum Based Assessment from 2013 Indonesian Curriculum. Regression analyses were undertaken, the results showed that there are two component of early reading fluency which related to reading comprehension. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Alida Hudson ◽  
Poh Wee Koh ◽  
Karol A. Moore ◽  
Emily Binks-Cantrell

Oral reading fluency (ORF) deficits are a hallmark of reading difficulties. The impact of fluency struggles extends beyond word-level difficulties to include deficits in reading comprehension. Sixteen empirical studies conducted in 2000–2019 that examined ORF interventions among elementary students identified as having reading difficulties were reviewed to identify the characteristics (e.g., instructional variables, group size, type of interventionist) of effective ORF interventions and their impact on English oral reading fluency and reading comprehension outcomes. The systematic review revealed that interventions reported centered around repeated reading procedures (86.5%). Across the 16 studies, outcomes for oral reading fluency varied widely and most focused on speed and rate aspects rather than prosody. Effect sizes for rate and accuracy measures ranged from negligible to large (i.e., 0.01 to 1.18) and three studies found large effects for prosody outcomes. Effect sizes for reading comprehension ranged between non-significant and large significant effects. Findings support the use of repeated reading of text to build up ORF of students with reading difficulties. Interventions that were found to be most effective were those that were conducted one-on-one with a trained model of fluent word reading and accuracy. Findings also point to three gaps in our understanding: (1) the efficacy of interventions other than repeated reading, (2) effects of ORF interventions on prosody outcomes, and (3) sustainability of outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rochman

Current methods for teaching reading comprehension tend to emphasize the products of comprehension and neglect the processes of comprehension. Teachers often provide insufficient opportunities for learners to practice English in teaching reading. During teaching reading in a class teachers may confuse to give exercises relate to fluency or accuracy. The correlation between fluency and reading comprehension showed a significant positive relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension performance. Therefore, automaticity of decoding fluency is essential for high levels of reading achievement. Assessing reading fluency, teachers need to listen to students read aloud to make judgments about their progress in reading fluency. In other side, teaching reading in accuracy exercises encourage a thoughtful use of language and the information is intended to help students understand how English works.


2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 576-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Stevens ◽  
Melodee A. Walker ◽  
Sharon Vaughn

Fluent word reading is hypothesized to facilitate reading comprehension by improving automatic word reading, thus releasing a reader’s cognitive resources to focus on meaning. Many students with learning disabilities (LD) struggle to develop reading fluency, which affects reading comprehension. This synthesis extends Chard, Vaughn, and Tyler’s (2002) review, synthesizing fluency intervention research from 2001 to 2014. The search yielded 19 studies examining reading fluency and comprehension outcomes of reading fluency interventions for students with LD in kindergarten through 5th grade. Results showed repeated reading (RR), multicomponent interventions, and assisted reading with audiobooks produced gains in reading fluency and comprehension. Providing a model of fluent reading and performance feedback, using easier level text, setting a performance criterion, and practicing RR with peers also contributed to improved outcomes. Findings suggest that RR remains the most effective intervention for improving reading fluency for students with LD. Limitations include sample size, only three group design studies, and infrequent use of standardized measures.


Author(s):  
Theresa A Grasparil ◽  
David A Hernandez

Poor literacy achievement among English learners has contributed significantly to their high dropout rates, poor job prospects, and high poverty rates. The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth has suggested that English learners benefit from the same direct, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading shown effective for native-English-speaking students: phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Implementing effective reading instructional practices for English learners may reduce the literacy achievement gap between English learners and native English speakers. In this study, we used multiple regression to examine data for 1,376 third-grade Latino English learners to determine the strength of oral English proficiency, oral reading fluency, and academic vocabulary knowledge as predictors of reading comprehension proficiency. Findings of this study indicate a mismatch between English learners’ instructional needs and a widely used reading program component, assessment of words correct per minute (as a measure of oral reading fluency). Significant conclusions of this study suggest that educators seeking to promote the reading comprehension proficiency of Latino English learners consider using WCPM assessments and activities cautiously and strive to allocate more time for instruction and assessment of the prosodic dimension of oral reading fluency and academic vocabulary knowledge and skills.


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